aprile 07, 2017 - Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM cracks the 7,000km mark as testing comes to an end

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Best stats of all three manufacturers: Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM sextet cover 7,227 kilometres in pre-season tests at Hockenheim

Four days of testing at Hockenheim (3rd - 6th April)

Dress rehearsal ahead of season opener with all six Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM drivers in action

Gary Paffett: “We’ve had a good week of testing and are now ready for the first race weekend of the season.

The Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM Team have successfully completed their preparations for the new season during four days of testing at Hockenheim (3rd ‑ 6th April). On three of the four test days, it was a Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM driver who set the best time – Gary Paffett (Monday and Tuesday) and Robert Wickens (Wednesday). In the course of the test week, the six Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM drivers put in 1,580 laps (equivalent to 7,227 kilometres) on the 4.574km circuit at Hockenheimring – more than either of the other two manufacturers.

Paul Di Resta set the second-fastest lap of the test week on the final day of the tests, with a time of 1:30.236 minutes. The new generation of DTM cars was therefore more than two seconds faster than its predecessors as recorded on the final weekend of the 2016 season at the same venue. By way of comparison, the pole time for Race 1 on the second of the two visits to Hockenheim in 2016 was 1:32.344 minutes.

“I’m very happy with the test week,” said Gary. His main concern and that of the team had been to get all the way through to the end of the planned programme of work. “We drove a lot, and the pace of the car was very good on the performance runs. I was also satisfied with the long runs. We’ve had a good week of testing and are now ready for the first race weekend of the season.”

After the first two test days, Gary’s team colleague Robert Wickens took over the car for the rest of the week. “The most important thing is that we were able to complete our entire programme,” confirmed Robert, who drove more than 830 kilometres on the last day alone. “We put in a lot of laps and worked hard. On Thursday, I may even have broken my personal record for the number of laps completed in one day. Having said that, though, we were not going all out for performance